Body transformation challenges successful but often unsustainable

With the festive season in full swing, the vast majority of people are blithely ignoring dietary advice as to how to avoid the Christmas kilo creep.

Fitness queen Michelle Bridges.

Photo: Ellis Parrinder

But new research from Griffith University may help when attention inevitably turns to getting rid of those pesky extra numbers on the scales come January.

Joy Parkinson of Social Marketing @ Griffith has undertaken wide-scale research comparing the success of those who take part in the online weight loss juggernaut that is Michelle Bridges' 12 week body transformation compared to those who choose to go it alone.

Michelle Bridges' chicken and salad with beans and peas.

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Early evidence from more than 1400 participants, she said, shows dramatically more weight loss in those who take part in the program devised by the trainer who found fame on the Channel Ten reality show, The Biggest Loser.

However, while Dr Parkinson has lauded the program for its short-term success, the Dietitians Association of Australia has warned it and other similar 12 week programs may not lead to sustainable weight loss in the longer term.

Dr Parkinson, who has no affiliation with the program, said unlike other weight loss methods, the Michelle Bridges program, in which participants pay $199 for 12 weeks of food planning, exercise programs, weekly mindset lessons and forum access, ingrained healthy habits that could be sustained long-term.

"Quite often when programs like this are run, it's very easy to change back to your old ways at the end but the difference with this program is it teaches people how to change their patterns and they are realistic changes, such as how to make good food choices and how to incorporate exercise into their lifestyle," she said.

You may be peddling like a madwoman (or man) now, but can you sustain it when the 12 weeks end?

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"There is some dropout but there also is a high rate of people who participate for a second time and many continue to participate in the program."

But Accredited Practising Dietitian Katie Thomsitt said the challenge all 12 week programs posed to sustainable weight loss, despite their healthy virtues, was that they all had an end date.

"They are looking at it as something that has a start and finish date," she said of participants.

"They can follow guidelines for that timeframe but often find they can't continue implementing what they were doing on the program and there is also the barrier of not having ongoing support."

Ms Thomsitt said many of her clients came to her after having completed 12 week online programs and having regained weight.

She described them as a "band-aid" type approach that often failed in their lack of ongoing support.

"I think when it comes to weight loss, people go for these options because they are cost effective and accessible but not because they are looking at the underlying causes for weight problems," she said.

"They are a little bit of a bandaid solution, ultimately all underlying reasons why people struggle with their weight need time with a dietitian."

Dr Parkinson's research has so far just taken in one 12 week program in which participants in both the Michelle Bridges group and the controlled groups who were attempting weight loss without support have been surveyed at the beginning and end.

Next, she will again survey them again in three months to monitor their progress.

She said while figures were still being collated to compare the weight loss of the two groups, the difference was dramatically in favour of the Michelle Bridges group, something she also credited to its supportive environment.

"I think this program does build lifelong habits, some of my findings show people who have been participating are making a lot more home cooked meals and a lot more than the control groups that didn't take part," she said.

"Michelle Bridges focuses on everyone starting together and everyone finishing together, there are forums and Facebook pages and people develop their own Facebook groups as well.

"The group mentality is one that makes participants accountable to other people, they feel like they are not alone and they form this massive community.

"The peer support is so important. When changing behaviours, you need that support from other people."